dbda re-brands BMW Education to become BMW Group Education

The Education Programme, which has a long-established commitment to supporting education across the UK, was launched over 17 years ago as part of BMW’s corporate responsibility commitment providing schools with free, curricular-linked and award-winning educational resources covering the themes of Science and Technology (Young Academy), Energy and the Environment (Energised and Clean Energy) and road safety (Safe on the Street).

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Use of plastic bags up 5% in 2010 compared to previous years

The Guardian have published an article about the increase in use of plastic carrier bags in 2010 compared to the years 2006-2009.

In 2006, UK consumers were using 11bn plastic carrier bags, a figure reduced by 40% to 6bn in 2009. But now these figures have seen an increase around 5% in 2010 according to the government’s Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP). The reason? Well, the economy has been one supposed factor with people making more regular short trips to local stores rather than a big weekly shop.

Play with your rubbish

These playful floor stickers made me chuckle. It’s an initiative by the city of Lucerne (Switzerland) to get people to notice and use garbage cans. What a fun idea!

(via swissmiss)

MF, studio, dbda

Free fizzy tap water coming soon!

London’s restaurant goers will soon be able to enjoy free fizzy water, thanks to Thames Water who has designed its own ‘sparkling tap water’.

The introduction of sparkling tap water is part of Thames Water’s ‘London On Tap’ campaign to give people the choice of ordering free tap water when dining, as opposed to expensive bottled water with a high carbon footprint.

Reasons to go onto ‘tap’:

• It’s cheaper: tap water is 500 times cheaper than bottled water
• It’s kinder to the environment: it emits 300 times less CO2 to process than bottled alternatives

The natural ‘bubbly’ is currently being trialed in Aldo Zilli’s Zilli Fish restaurant with the aim of rolling out across London soon.

Read more at London on Tap

Nicki, Business Director

The Green measure 2011 Budget

What’s in store for Green Britain after the 2011 Budget on 23rd March?

• Green Deal to reduce energy bills from next year.

• The UK to become the first country in the world to introduce a carbon price floor for the power sector.

• New “green investment bank“, to start operating next year, will have access to £3bn of funds.

• Climate change levy discount on electricity for those signing up to climate change agreements will rise from 65% to 80% from April 2013.

• Plans to switch air passenger duty (APD) from passengers to planes have been dropped. This year’s APD rise is postponed for a year, and the government will seek to impose the tax on private jets.

Source: Guardian

Gemma, Account Manager, dbda

PepsiCo launches world’s first ‘green’ bottle

Lots of talk about ’bottle wars’  this week as Pepsi announced that it has developed the world’s first 100% plant-based bottle – beating its rival Coca-Cola to the green post.

The new bottle is made from switch grass, pine bark and corn  husks (basically plant waste) and PepsiCo plan to pilot production in 2012. They also hope to use orange peel, potato scraps, oat hulls and other leftovers from its food business as renewable sources in the future.

Read the full story at http://bit.ly/gegV4z

Nicki, dbda

BBB advice on avoiding tsunami scams

In the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami and earthquake, the Better Business Bureau has warned people to be cautious when donating to charties following a rise in scams and fraudulent groups who try to solicit donations following major disasters.

The BBB have posted advice and tips. Full article via WGNTV.com.

Nicki, dbda

Disney Nature

Although I can’t actually find an active link for this site, the 2008 visuals for Disneys Nature site that informs and follows on from the environmental issues addressed in some of their movies.

Find more visuals on designer, Andy Gugel‘s portfolio.

MF, Studio, dbda

Is 1 litre of water enough to wash our hands?

Although we do our best to conserve water at every turn, we’re usually not faced with a physically limited supply of the good old H2O. But what happens when your faucet says, “Whoops! All gone!”?

Full article at: http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/bathroom/is-1-liter-of-water-enough-to-wash-your-hands-138726

Save as WWF!

The WWF format is a PDF that cannot be printed. It’s a simple way to avoid unnecessary printing. So here’s your chance to save trees and help the environment. Decide for yourself which documents don’t need printing out – then simply save them as WWF.

Sounds pretty awesome: Just save it as WWF. What a smart move, WWF!